"Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Mark 8:34

Do you understand what Jesus is saying in this?

No, He is not talking about some burden like a difficult boss or some malady like hay fever. Rather, He is talking about crucifying yourself unto Him.

No, not dying, crucifying. Crucifying is slow and very painful. So too it is with our surrender to Jesus. We must crucify self for Jesus. That means we must crucify all personal desire for the desire to serve Jesus. It is a slow and painful experience. It took me three months.

The difference between the Roman cross and Christís cross however is that on the Roman cross a corpse was taken down from the cross and usually thrown in the dump for the rats and wild dogs to eat.

On Christís cross the spirit of self is dead and the spirit of Christ renews itself in you in a glorious, joyful metamorphosis that will have you singing thunderous exhalation to Christ for this divine privilege.

You will never be the same.

With each passing moment you will draw closer and closer into Christís sphere until the grandiose moment where we are carried off into Heaven to live in true peace, harmony and joy for eternity with a King who is truly gentle, loving, wise and caring.

No I will not powder puff it and say that afterwards you will say the cross experience was nothing. It will always be a reminder of the painful high cost of adoption into the most glorious family. You will however, never regret it.

Have you been crucified yet?

Prayer: Thank you Jesus for crucifying me so that I was given the special privilege of being grafted into your sweet vineyard. I give thanks in the most wonderful gardeners name Jesus Christ. Amen.

May the sweet sunshine of Jesusí love bless you today and every day

Please contact the author at: solomon2004@mail.com if you are interested in purchasing this article

This is very true for until we are prepared to die to self we cannot start to live for Christ. Paul tells us this, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Romans 8:13) I encourage you to keep writing and sharing your ideas with the wider community. God bless you sir.